In Depth by Kyle Ellison
It's time again for us to look back over a year's worth of music - meaning, for me, it's time to think of some way to make sense of a year's worth of rap records. In some regards, trying to round up a year in hip hop is even harder than in other genres. The division between chart-friendly, club-ready singles and wordy, underground writtens can sometimes feel like you're dealing with different types of music entirely. How exactly should we compare the dense, poetic ramblings of say - Aesop Rock, with the synthetic energy of somebody like Future or Gunplay? Yet all these things have their place, and hip hop without one or the other would feel sorely lacking.»
In Depth by Kyle Ellison
This edition of Champion Sound features Ian Bavitz, better known as Aesop Rock; an artist who has not only just released a rather brilliant new album, but also – in part – can be held responsible for this column’s existence. Having discovered hip hop through the back door, it’s difficult to overstate the influence that Aesop Rock records had on me in the early part of my hip hop education. »
In Depth by Alexander Tudor
The question of what's underground in hiphop is a difficult one - ever since hiphop started infiltrating the charts and the major labels, numerous acts have been labelled "hardcore hiphop", "alternative hiphop", and even "avant-hiphop". Two labels can claim to have produced some of the most radical, abrasive, weird, and often politicized hiphop of the past decade... problem is, the artists involved are mostly white»
In Depth by Philip Bloomfield
Some time around the start of last year I found myself scanning through my music library, and coming to the realisation that something was slowing eating it’s way into my tastes. A slew of tracks and albums praising the skills of the hustler, the dope dealer, the ostentatious pimp and the blunted beatmaker were making inroads into my hard drive and CD racks. Converge found themselves sharing an album shelf with Clipse, Madlib made himself a bed next to Mogwai and the Melvins, all whilst the Wu Tang in their various guises swarmed all over like so many killer bees. For a young teenager who had renounced hip hop and it’s slinkier brother R’n’B as Trojan horses for the saccharinisation of pop music the first time he heard a Fugazi record, this was a significant turnaround. »
In Depth by Dave Kerr
From the archive... Powering through the desert at as close to 666mph as laws allow, DiS wonders exactly how this Coachella will surpass the mania of last year»
In Depth by Mike Diver
Here we are: halfway through our top 25 of 2007 – we’ll be running through the full 50 come Friday, but breaking our very favourites into fives makes for a neatly week-shaped series of articles, don’t it?»
In Depth by Mike Diver
With Christmas now peeking over the horizon, DiS invites its readers to vote for your top ten of 2007, from our editorially selected shortlist of 50. Choose five of your favourites here. Voting, it will close this Friday, December 7, with the results running December 14»
In Depth by Dave Kerr
In any given artist’s lifetime, the progress of a good idea is often stunted by the appeal of another that could be much bigger. Dynamite designs are tossed aside for the sake of pursuing some newer, more daring revelation and the scope for entering a cycle of indefinite distraction becomes full blown. Not the case, it seems, for Aesop Rock...»
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